The Black Book

* * *

  Inside her room, Nora cursed herself a thousand times over. She couldn’t tell what had gotten into her and she hated herself for this. Every sane teenager knew that adoption was a very normal thing, which grown-ups were legally allowed to do if they wanted to. Angelie Jolie had adopted like two or three of hers and that was so sweet of her, so what was the big deal? What if Matthew had been adopted? Who cares?

  Maybe her fight with Patricia was affecting her, she thought. Maybe the only way to stop this new obsession with her parents’ long-kept secret was to forget this charged encounter with her rival, she told herself. But after trying for some time to block out the episode with some other pleasant thoughts, she gave up. The issue of Patricia trying to get back her boyfriend was now top priority for her and forgetting about it was impossible. Totally out of the question. Sadly, she flopped on her bed, exhausted.

  An issue of Vogue lay on her bedside table, and she lazily picked it up to gaze at the models appearing for Ralph Lauren. She hoped to be one of them someday, but why did her parents keep Matthew’s death and Matthew 2’s adoption a secret this long? Her anger towards them must definitely stem from that fact, she thought, beginning to feel justified for her earlier outbursts. They were totally trying to ruin her young life at the moment if that was the kind of shocking news they must have conspiratorially decided to reveal to her on her twentieth birthday, and in that case, her accidental presence at that secret meeting of theirs was timely.

  Again she glanced through some more pages of the Vogue magazine hoping to clear her mind somewhat, and failed woefully. Why was Mom concerned about Mr. What’s-his-name spilling it all down at Frederick’s? And why wouldn’t she be? Maybe she doesn’t want the publicity or maybe she was trying to protect her foster brother from that same publicity.

  “That’s it,” she suddenly exclaimed, standing up and flinging away the Vogue. “That’s it,” but all of a sudden, she was frowning and trying to make out what ‘it’ was. She sat down again with a worried look on her beautiful face.

  Patricia!

  Her only enemy would devour her with this singular piece of news. And who’s gonna protect her from those awful school taunts and biting gossip? Matthew would be okay. He was a boy.

  Not her.

  She’d be devastated! Destroyed.

  She might even lose Leonard!

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered, and quickly got up to start walking about, agitated. “Oh, my God, this . . . this is not so happening to me. I’m in a dream and I will soon wake up.”

  “Nora, hey Nora! Come out and see my bike. Stephanie’s riding it,” Matthew shouted as he banged on her door.

  “Go away, Noise,” she wailed with vigor. “You’ll destroy my life.”

  Ten years of a shared room could never change what was coming now! Unless she could prevent her friends from finding out in school, it’d be better to get run over by a truck!

  Well, maybe a small car.